DDG-01 "Freedom"

It was old, y'know, but it was like Provinia - a old brute, that, when angered, could bring all her guns to bear.

Click. Click. Click..
"Mission Control, this is Ares. All systems nominal."
For once, every single channel is tuned towards a single camera. For once, the political hooah paralyzing the state has died down. And, for once, the people are unified in a terrified trepidation - huddling around their TVs, headsets or phones in a almost divine trance.
A tribal family from Nurazhar huddles around the Government TV, a fire flickering as they watch. The Scientific Committee watches from a gray house in Weltkria. The Nacenian Emperor enters yet another period of bluster and insansity, declaring that those "accursed Ardenians will never trump the great Nacenian empire".
The King, the Prime Minister - the upper and lower houses, all watch in trepidation. The Prime Minister sorts his papers one last time, the speech labeled "IN CASE OF CRASH" coming to the top. Strusrith makes their last preparations clear as hundreds watch the big screens in the middle of the street, watching with wonder and fear.
Massive sheafs of paper are sorted through as computers whirr and click to life, the men within a drab gray building - one right next to the launchsite, waiting in utter silence as the last checks are completed.
All systems nominal, yes. Everything is normal, right. That's what they said on the last one - then it blew up. Ares I, Freedom I, the first attempts, had all blown up in either space or on the Ground - such was the nature of new technology. The first ones were the verbotten Weltkrians - now, it was their turn, and, in classic Ardenian Fashion, they overextended.
It took hundreds of deaths to get where they stood now. Every single patch - a small piece of debri from the failed missions of years past, was kept on a small box in the center.
A suited man checks his watch one last time.
"Mission Control to Ares. Go for launch. Repeat, go for launch."
Fuel floods the gargantuan first stage. Hundreds - if not thousands of tons of Fuel, Tsiolkovsky making his presence known one last time. D2O starts reacting, spooling up a fusion reactor - not yet time for engines - soon enough, fuses are popped as the guidance computer sends the orders - numbers are crunched, and, suddenly, as the countdown hits 0, she erupts. Over eight engines flare to life as fuel is burnt through with the determination of the human race, the first stage burning through as it drops to the ocean - 24,000 feet - noted the computer, and as the first stage burnt - they erupted.
The four Slamfire fusion engines erupt in fire and flame as a bright blue plume engulfs the first stage - molten metal listlessly falling to the ground as the second stage takes over. Cheers erupt in every town over - the local pub, the big cities, as men and women, old and young, scream in joy.
They have done it.

Construction

Ah, man. I was a worker with Specialized Electronics, of course, like many others...
I felt proud. Proud to play a role in history, proud that everything worked right. Y'know, everything could have gone wrong - the Radiators might have failed and not folded out - condemning the crew to a brutal, hot, death, but everything worked.
And thats a achievement that me and my friends are quite proud about. She's still up there, doing her job...

— LBS News

The initial motion passed with a dizzying 48-2 majority, a unprecedented majority never seen with the partisan state of the

Upper House. The 2 "nays" belonged to the National Redemption Party, which demanded all sorts of concessions to vote yes - however, these concessions were ignored. Defense Authorization Act 302 called for additional funding for the Federal Army, and, critically, authorized a crash program to build the first Ardenian Space Warship as a hard counter to the growing Weltkrian militarization of space.
Austerity measures were discarded as billions and billions of dollars poured into Research and Development - companies such as Nariskaly Fusion Dynamics received millions of dollars as the Prime Minister, hundreds of people watching from the near-ubiquitous TVs across the nation. Suburban families, city-slickers, the men in Rysink AFB and pilots across the nation all tune in to station 37.2 as the Prime Minister swears to counter Weltkrian efforts to expand to space at all costs.
The Houses pass the spending bills with little to no fanfare. The scientist tinkers with the classified, prototype magnetic confinent system, the rocketeer watches a blue flame shining at over a million kelvin engulf the distant desert, the engineer looking at the schematics for a top-of-the-line carbon-tantalum metamaterial for radiators and the engines, the foreman looking on at the immense scaffolding surrounding a prototype rocket - and finally, the Admiral, with his carrier tasked to fuel the garguantuan rocket sitting in the middle of the Freeze.
Billions, if not trillions of Federals are spent. Millions more from private donors, fundraising activities and other unorthodox sources contribute to the construction - and, on a cold March day, the Keel is laid. Trucks upon trucks of advanced metamaterials scream forward in massive convoys, military vehicles descending on a massive construction site as the people watch.

Service History

ARS Freedom is considered the most decorated spaceship in active service with the Ardenian Military.

Initial Patrols

After shakedown, ARS Freedom would be redirected to assist stranded ships within the infamous Arla orbital-transfer route, many of which had ran out of fuel on the journey. Freedom would be instrumental in saving over a thousand lives, many of which were belt-trawlers which had overcalcuated their fuel load.

Outer Belt Conflicts

The destruction of multiple trawlers by trigger happy Weltkrian crews would result in the dispatch of the Ardenian First Fleet to the area, with the orders to escort and ensure the integrity of the critical asteriod mining fleet. With these orders, DDG-01 would see its first combat engagement, engaging three Weltkrian ships and destroying two, and recieving damage in return. Within 8 hours, disengagement orders would be forwarded, and the mini-war would end.

Orbital Wars

The Interplanetary Monitoring Organization had requested immediate military aid to deal with rebellious colonists on a o'neill cylinder, and the Freedom was first to respond. The rebellion would be suppresed in days after the arrival of the Freedom, with hundreds dead due to precision orbital, extrajudicial executions, causing mass protests and munities among Ardenian crews responding to the call for help.

Colonial Revolts

ARS Freedom would be instrumental in the suppresion of colonial revolts and supporting ground forces on many planets - at this time, it would save multiple divisons by being completely engulfed by precision orbital support, secure orbits and escort reinforcements into the rebelling colonial planets. ARS Freedom would recieve the Guardian Angel ribbon for saving many soldiers from certain death, one of the only GA awards issued in the Ardenian Military.

Peacetime

At the end of the Colonial Wars, ARS Freedom would reenter patrol routes, make port calls to scattered planets, and appear in fleet reviews and other such exercises.

Awards

Guardian Angel Commendation Ribbon - Awarded for saving the lives of 5th Division from a impending encirclement
Frarga fourragere - Authorized and awarded by the Trunish Government for saving the lives of 8th Battalion TFL
Battlestar - Awarded for acts of exemplary performance during the Battle of IZ-048
Battlestar - Awarded for acts of exemplary performance during the Battle of the Langrage Points
Battlestar - Awarded for clever misdirection and utilization of electronic warfare during
Battlestar - Awarded for intervening in the possible fall of a Ardenian C3I center
Battlestar - Awarded for actions during the Battle of Point Hoki
Battlestar - Awarded for actions during the Battle of Point Iurar
Battlestar - Awarded for damage during the Battle of Hill 478
Battlestar - Awarded for exemplary performance during the Battle of Troax
Battlestar - Awarded for exemplary performance during the Battle of Harta

Power Generation

Holy ****, the fusion reactor actually works.

— TSgt. Maskria

Being the first

Propulsion

Remember autocannons and conventional guns? Yeah, this thing made them obselete in space.

— TSgt. Maskria

Weapons & Armament

Our simulation actually lagged when we tested out the PRS series of dustguns - imagine the shock when they actually did better than the damn simulation.

— Captain Edelhover

Armor and defense

Boron. Enough Boron and carbon-carbon, along with aerogel, to take a hit from a tank and survive.

Communication Tools & Systems

The outer belt conflict allowed Freedom to really demonstrate the sheer advantage that datalinking provided to the Ardenians - even if it was delayed by minutes on end.

Sensors

The four horses of RADAR, LIDAR, telescopes, and a 64 gixapixel high-resolution imaging sensor.

ARS Freedom

Class

Freedom class Gunship

Nickname

"Old Scratch"

Designation

ARS Freedom

Motto

There's a Future to be won

Manufacturer

Specialized Electronics Incorporated

Creation Date

Febuarary 1957

Decommission Date

December 2122

Owning Organization

Ardenian Space Command

Current location

Flara-Tarre 1 Langrange

Related Technologies

• Ardenian Fusion Reactor Program

Width

102m

Length

102m

Height

20m

Weight

22kt

Speed

10G Accelerations

Complement / Crew

48 Enlisted, 12 officers